Lana lay staring up into the abyss, her dark hair splayed on the cold, charred grass around her. She used her fingers to count what she presumed must be stars, but it didn't make sense to her for there to be stars in Hell. Neave once told her they were people's dead dreams, but they wouldn't shine quite so bright if they were dead. What the heck does she know about dead dreams anyway, thought Lana to herself. She heard someone come into the garden, but she didn't bother to look up or move. If they wanted to look at the stars they could find another garden to lie in and leave her in peace.
The scent of wood smoke entered the garden, alerting Lana of who the intruder was. Lucifer. Lana pulled up her knee-high socks and finally sat up, still not taking her eyes away from the now dying lights. Morning was coming.
"Staring at lights will not send you back to him." He said, in a voice as rich as silk. Sometimes, it was hard not to remember the angel he had once been. Standing, Lana finally tore her eyes away to look at the ruler of demons. He wore a black tailored suit, with a hint of stubble upon his chin and a dangerous gleam in his sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for him to get the idea and leave.
The patter of shoes on the grass made the young demon sigh angrily and sit back up. Her mouth opened to shout at whoever this new intruder was. The young woman with brown hair and a big grin standing in front of her made the corner of her mouth twitch.
"Dude you look like someone out of a Tumblr post right now."
Lana laughed, and stood up to greet her old friend.
"Although I'm not quite sure what this new trench coat is about." The girl said, poking the hem of the long black coat with the tip of her shiny red DM's.
"Neave seriously, I look fab and you can't deny it." Lana giggled, swishing the long dark material around her. Neave grinned and pulled the short girl in for a hug.
"Neave what are you doing let go pls" Lana stood awkwardly, wrapped in the taller girl's arms. Neave laughed, pushing her friend away from her.
"Come on then dude, we better get going before you start making daisy chains." She walked towards the gate at the end of the garden, and stood waiting for Lana when she realised her friend wasn't following. Lana sighed again, and took once last wistful glance at the now dimmed stars. Neave's grin slowly left her face; she knew what Lana was thinking of. The one thing she couldn't let go of, even after four long years. Carl, the mortal man they'd left behind when they were sent to this shithole. Neave rubbed her head, and slowly loped towards Lana.
"You will see him one day you know. I said I'd get you back there and I don't go back on my word." Lana tore her eyes away from the sky and looked at the tall demon. The sad look of longing stamped on her face broke Neave's heart.
"Even you have your limits."
Neave opened the door into her room and threw her blue rucksack onto the bed, Lana trailing behind her.
"OW YOU PRICK" screamed a male voice from under the sheets. Lana stared, wondering who could be under Neave's sheets. Neave simply rolled her eyes, slid off her shiny boots and threw them on top of the pile accumulating on the bed.
"WOULD YOU FUCKING STOP NIV I SWEAR TO GOD" Came the voice. Lana smiled at the talking pile. There was only one person who would dare to call the demon girl by that name. The sheets flew of the bed, and a tall, skinny brown-haired boy jumped out after them. Ollie strode towards Neave, red boot in hand. Neave slumped in the chair next to her bed, smiling to herself. With a flick of her wrist, the red boot flew out of Ollie's hand towards Lana's head. Lana only just managed to duck just in time, then hid on the bed, out of the way of any more flying boots.
"See now Ollie this is why we don't hide in people's beds, you get all sorts of things thrown at you" Neave smirked as she reached for the cigarette packet hidden in her shirt. Ollie gave a look at Neave, and walked off to the bathroom, muttering under his breath. Neave took a long drag as Lana sat there staring at her, eyes wide open.
"Why is Ollie half naked in your bed?" Asked Lana. "Did you-?" Neave choked on her cigarette smoke.
"Oh my fuck no. Have you met him? Sure he's funny to have around but he's the grumpiest bastard I've ever met in my life." Lana lifted her eyebrow; it wouldn't exactly be odd for her friend to have half-naked men in her bed.
"He's here to help us." The tone in Neave's voice indicated there was a half-cracked plan behind this, one that most definitely would end up getting them both in deep shit.
"Explain." Neave looked at her nails, grinning to herself. Oh dear. Definitely not a good sign.
"Ollie knows where they keep half of The Book. And that will tell us how we're gonna get our asses out of here and find your lover boy." Lana stared. Was she serious? Every demon knew the Book held the answers on how to get out and cause havoc. Written by Lucifer himself, it contained every spell, charm and sigil required to spill as much blood as possible. What the hell was Neave up to?
"NEAVE!" Lana shouted, staring open mouthed. Ollie emerged from the bathroom, having cleaned up and finally put some clothes on.
"Guessing you told her the plan then. Told you she wouldn't like it"
"Why the hell not? She gets to see lover boy and we get to have a little fun along the way. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me."
"Wait you knew about this?!" Lana said, staring accusingly. Ollie leaned on the chair next the Neave, holding his hands up.
"Actually he came up with most of it." Neave stood up, looking at the clock. "And it's not going to work unless we go now. So are you coming or are you gonna be a boring bitch and sit here by yourself?" Neave and Ollie stood side by side, waiting. Lana sat there, staring at her two friends. This was by far the craziest plan they'd ever come up with, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let them go by themselves. Half of Earth would be destroyed.
"Fine."
Two hours later, the three of them stood in a dark, damp corridor, fumbling their way down. The Book was kept in the Vault. It was as far down in hell as you could go before digging down to Lucifer's cage. Lana still had no idea how they were going to pull this heist off; the Vault was guarded by Hellhounds. Although, this didn't seem to bother her friends; Neave was singing and dancing down this corridor, dragging Ollie into a spin, which resulted in Neave falling over and Ollie walking off laughing. Lana's feet were starting to hurt her, and she shivered in the cold dampness of the tunnel. Neave, now dancing backwards, noticed and stopped dead in the middle of the corridor.
"How the fuck are you cold we live in HELL dude." Lana laughed, and walked briskly down the corridor to catch up with Neave. She broke into her next song, but was stopped by Ollie shouting further down the corridor.
"We found it!" Ollie's voice ricocheted off of the walls. Neave grabbed Lana's arm and dragged her down to where Ollie's voice came from.
"Holy shit" They stood in a huge library; the walls lined with books and gold. Looking up, paintings from times gone past plastered the ceiling, and in the middle of it all was what Lana could only presume was Lucifer himself, directing the anarchy pictured on the ceiling. In the centre of the room, large sprawling staircases lead up to who knows where. And everywhere, lay thousands of books. They were overflowing out of the shelves, stacked up on the floor, and stairs.
"Well shit, which book is it?" Asked Ollie, picking up the one nearest to him. Neave followed him in.
"How the hell am I meant to know, genius. You said you knew where it was." Neave started sifting through the books on the shelf nearest her, whilst Lana nervously stood at the door, looking all around her.
"I don't mean to worry you guys, but aren't there supposed to be Hellhounds around here?" Lana said nervously, holding herself tightly.
Neave dropped the book she was holding and stared at Ollie.
"You never said anything about Hellhounds." Neave said, eyes open wide in fear. Ollie turned to face the girls.
"It'll be fine, everyone knows they're scared of crucifixes." Ollie replied, returning to his search. Neave threw the book she was holding in Ollie's direction, but, because it's her, missed.
"Well I don't mean to be a party pooper or anything BUT WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE MEANT TO FIND A CRUCIFIX DOWN HERE" Neave screamed. Lana searched the walls around her, desperately trying to find either the Book itself or just another way out.
"Don't shout at me, you're the one who wanted to get the fucking thing." Ollie said slamming his book down on the table. Lana's eyes were still searching the room – there! Up on the wall hung an inverted cross. She made her way over there, climbing on top of books to reach it, ignoring the other two's arguing.
"Well what the hell are we meant to do if one turns up? Cry in the corner?" Neavous argued. Lana's fingers almost reach the glowing cross, wobbling on top of a huge stack of books, She hoped she didn't end up flashing anyone; today was definitely not the day to wear this short black skirt. She didn't even know if the cross would work down here; there was no reason for it to considering the circumstances.
A low growl rumbled throughout the Vault, finally shutting up Ollie and Neave's shouts.
"Well crap, now look what you've done." Hissed Neave.
"Shut up!"
Lana's fingers finally grasped the golden cross, and slid down the books to join her two friends.
"What do we do?" She whispered. Her heart was pounding; a chill blew throughout the room and the candles flicked.
"You two keep that thing away from me, I'm going after the book." Whispered Neave. Ollie grabbed her arm.
"No fucking way am I being bait for that thing." He whispered. But Neave threw him off her and ran off.
"Neave get back here!" Hissed Lana, but Ollie pulled her back.
"Stop talking or it'll find us. Now come on, hold that crucifix."
"But what the hell am I supposed to do if it finds us before she gets back?" Ollie pasued for a second, frozen.
"Crap I don't know let's just go"
Ollie and Lana crept through the Vault, seeking out the sleek black back of the Hellhound. Neither of them had any clue where Neave could possibly have gone, or where the Hellhound could be hiding. Lana shivered in fear, she could feel Ollie's blood pumping through his thing wrists. Another growl erupted throughout the Vault. It was a low, gutteral sound that made the hair on the back of Lana's neck stand on end. The beast stalked around the corner, fangs beared, its yellow eyes staring menacingly at Lana and Ollie. Ollie stood in front of Lana, protectively holding her back. The Hellhound stalked towards them, pushing Lana and Ollie further and further back into one of the overflowing bookshelves.
'What are you waiting for Lana, throw the fucking crucifix already" screamed Ollie. Lana froze on the spot, unsure of exactly what she should be doing, despite Ollie screaming at her. Ollie grabbed the crucifix, threw it at the beast's head and dragged Lana round the corner.
"RUN!" the crucifix bounced off of the Hellhounds nose, which didn't so much as destroy it as piss it off even more. Neave's head popped over the top of one of the bookshelves. She reached out a hand, grabbing Ollie up.
"I thought that was meant to work you idiot." she said.
"Yeah well clearly it fucking didn't." Ollie. Neave gave him The Look.
"Thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious. Where the fuck is Lana?" Neave looked all around her but couldn't see her short friend.
"Oh shit-"
"DID YOU FUCKING LEAVE HER DOWN THERE" Screamed Neave.
Ollie backed away from Neave, who was staring at him menacingly, knuckles gripped tight around The Book, as though she was about to launch it in his direction.
"Uh guys, little help down here?" Lana poke her dark head around the bookshelf. Neave and Ollie knelt down from where they were standing.
"Get your ass up here now dipshit, I found The Book so we can leave now." Neave stretched out her arm to her panicking friend. Lana's eyes opened in fear; the Hellhound had found her. She backed away, arms stretched out in front of her as if it would protect her.
"DO SOMETHING" she cried as she tripped over one of the hundreds of book piles. Neave started to panic as Ollie looked around desperately trying to find a way to help ChloFlo.
"SHOVE A DREIDLE UP ITS ASS OR SOMETHING" Screamed Neave.
"How would that help me in any way." Lana moaned, slowly sliding backwards away from the oncoming Hellhound.
"Maybe it's Jewish or some-"
'USE THE FUCKING BOOK NIV" Ollie shouted. Right yes of course, that was the whole reason they were down there in the first place. Neave flipped through the large, dusty book, until she found the page she was looking for. The Hellhound unleashed a mighty roar; fire spewed out of it's mouth, enveloping Lana.
"In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas, Luciferi Excelsi"
Everything
Went
Black
Lana opened her eyes and tried to move her heavy limbs. She grabbed her head, and moaned. All her beautiful, long black hair, singed off by that fucking Hellhound. At least she was alive.
"Holy shit it actually worked." Neave was sat up looking down at her fingers in wonder, a look of amusement across her face.
"Might want to sort your eyes out though" Came Ollie's gruff voice from across the room. Lana realised then that Neave's eyes were completely black.
"Leave it, they match your soul." Said Lana, as she picked herself off of the floor finally.
"Ha fucking ha. You look fab with that new haircut by the way. You could have just asked me to cut it though, no need for the whole burn-and-go thing." Neave and Ollie smirked. Chloe gave them a look that would have fried any mortal's brain.
"Right let's roll; Lover Boy's waiting for you." Ollie said, laughing.
Ollie and Neave leant on a car out side of Carls house, watching Lana stand awkwardly on her ex-lovers front garden.
"Do you reckon she'll actually go in?" Asked Ollie. Neave sighed.
"She better, I didn't get us all the way here for nothing."
Lana stared in the window; it was early morning so nobody was awake in the house. Knowing Carl, he probably wouldn't be awake until late afternoon. The thought made her smile. She had spent many mornings wandering the house waiting for him to finally rise from his bed.
A light came on in the upstairs room. It made Lana flinch.
'It's now or never stupid." Neave murmured.
Lana turned and frowned at the taller girl. She took a deep breath and walked towards the front door. A figure appeared in the window; it was Carl! A smiled crept across her face. He was still just as handsome as she remembered, even at stupid-c-clock in the morning. But what was he doing up at this time? Behind him, a woman holding a small child walked into the kitchen. Lana felt the smile leave her face. Behind her, Neave and Ollie exchanged a worried look. Carl kissed the small child, and the woman. Lana was aware of Neave's arms surrounding her, pulling her away, but she felt no comfort. All she felt was the emptiness inside her. She finally dragged her eyes away from the house, and allowed herself to be put into the car Ollie had stolen earlier.
The threesome pulled up at the house where they had left the book, preparing to go back down. Lana was still reeling from what she had discovered; Carl a father?! Had it really been that long since her and Neave had left this earth? She felt as though she was on autopilot as she wandered back into the shack. She completely missed Neave staring at the black Chevy Impala parked next to theirs.
When Lana opened the door, two men spun round to stare at her, guns drawn. Ollie grabbed her arm.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Ollie yelled.
"We could ask you the same thing." Replied the taller of the two men. The shorter once grabbed the Book off of the table.
"Do you have any idea what the hell you kids are messing with here?"
"Actually yeah we do."
Ollie blinked, changing his green eyes to black. The two men visibly flinched. They must be hunters to recognise Ollie for what he was, Lana realised. Neave finally made an appearance, black eyes on show for all to see.
"Well look here, two cute guys with good hair and plaid shirts. Seems we're in the presence of celebrities my friends. Your dad says hi, by the way." Neave stalked around the men; they stared in stony silence. A flash of recognition flitted through Ollie's eyes; the two demons must have run into the hunter boys on their last trip up here, because Lana had no idea who the hell they were.
"You shut your mouth bitch" said the green eyed man. Neave smiled, but it never reached her eyes. It was a cold smile, the one a lion would give its prey before devouring it.
"Hey Ollie. Catch" Said Neave. With a flick of her wrist, the book was in Ollie's hand, and he was and Lana sprinted outside.
"SAM, THE BOOK" bellowed one of the hunters. Lana grabbed the Book and pushed Ollie back towards the house.
"Get back in there and get Neave before she murders those guys, I've got this." She said, turning towards the car. The door flew open; the taller hunter burst through, letting off a round of bullets from his pistol. Ollie smiled and stared as the hunter dropped to the floor writing in agony.
Neave walked slowly around the house, smiling at the hunter.
"Well if he's Sam, then you must be the brave big brother Dean I presume?"
"The one and only" Replied Dean, with a smirk. Neave found she couldn't move any further than the very edge of the door way. Dean's smile grew as Neave looked up. A Demon's Trap covered the whole part of this side of the house. Neave tilted her head to the side, smiling at the hunter.
"Well played. Let's make this fair shall we?" The door slammed shut. Dean ran up to it, banging on it with his fist.
'SAM?! SAMMY? CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Neave threw her head back and laughed. Dean walked up to her, gun pointing at her head.
"Who the hell are you?" he growled. Neave didn't answer, but pointed at his gun.
"So it is true, you do have the Colt. That's going to make things interesting."
Ollie strangled Sam, waiting until he was unconscious, when the door banged shut. Lana dropped the Book and ran up to the door, kicking and punching it with all her might. Ollie ran up, attempting to smash in the windows. Neave might be brave but she was cocky; there was no way she could face a hunter this skilled by herself.
"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR RIGHT NOW NIV" screamed Ollie.
Inside, Dean and Neave were listening to Ollie and Lana's screams from outside.
"So Niv? Is that your name huh? Pretty crappy name if you ask me." Said Dean.
Neave smiled.
"Darling that's only what he calls me. I have many names."
"What do you call yourself." Neave took a second to contemplate his question. Dean knew she was only stalling, wasting time while she thought of a plan to escape her predicament.
"Stephanie" She finally replied. Dean smiled.
"Well 'Stephanie", do you realise this trouble you're in right now? Stood in Devils Trap, with the Colt's barrel pointing at your forehead. I suggest you let your friends back in so I can get the Book back."
"And then you'll let them go?
"Well that was the deal." Neave threw back her head and laughed again.
"A skilled hunter like you, letting three demons just walk out of here over a book? What could you possi-". Neave finally clicked. Dean redistributed his weight, and stood uncomfortable under the demon girl's gaze.
"You're still trying to stop yourself from going to Hell aren't you?" Dean didn't reply.
"It won't work you know. Trust me, I tried."
"Enough! Get the book back and I'll free you and your friends." Dean growled. Neave grinned. If she was gonna die today, she was gonna go out with a bang.
"Liar liar mum on fire"
The doors finally flew open and Lana and Ollie ran in just in time to see the bullet enter Neave's chest.
"NO!" roared Ollie. He flew towards Dean, with the intention of tearing him limb from limb. Lana stood staring as her friend's body slumped down on the floor. She was aware of someone screaming, and realised it was her. She ran towards Neave, holding on to her jacket tightly, sobbing onto the fabric.
"No please Neave I'm begging you wake up, you bitch please just get up." ChloFlo sobbed; all of the grief pouring out of her body. Neave's eyes flickered.
"Look at you, you big baby. A demon who cries huh? Always knew you were a special one." Neave croaked out, blood pouring from her mouth. Lana clutched onto her friend's body remembering all the moments they had shared together. She closed her eyes, wrapping her body around Neave's, as the demon girl's eyes slowly rolled back.
Ollie stood over Dean's corpse, covered in the hunters blood. The anger had left him; he felt empty. He stood, staring in wonder at Lana's sobs that racked her whole body. Ollie realised at that moment, Lana was not a demon. How could she be? Demons don't cry. He pushed the thought to the back of his head, and helped her to her feet, and carried Neave's body out of the house to where the Book lay on the grass, Lana trailing behind him.
"Take us home Lana"
She picked up the Book, holding it in her hands. She opened it, and on the front cover saw words written in a familiar scrawl:
Happy Birthday Lana Burnage.